Chinese Patent No. 102338717B, which issued on Jan. 1, 2014 to Zhang et al., discloses a testing apparatus for wood-based panels that uses a vacuum system to apply a load. A wood-based panel is first placed in a rectangular frame having a bottom plate. The rectangular frame is covered by a flexible cover which hermetically seals the rectangular frame so that the rectangular frame forms a vacuum chamber. A vacuum pump creates a vacuum inside the vacuum chamber which in turn applies a uniform load to the wood-based panel. A displacement sensor measures the deformation of the wood-based panel under load to obtain mechanical performance parameters.